U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,627, assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses an electric horn comprising a housing, an electromagnet, a diaphragm and a striker disposed between the diaphragm and the electromagnet, and which is mounted on the housing by means of a carrier spring. The shape and means of attachment of the carrier spring are such that when it is drawn toward the electromagnet, its force-deflection characteristic is substantially linear (see, e.g., FIG. 9, Curve B). But the static magnetic force between the electromagnet and the striker is nonlinear, i.e., it increases geometrically as the distance between them decreases. Thus, very little of the energy made available by the electromagnet is converted into potential energy of the carrier spring and is thereby available for producing an acoustic output. The rest of the energy made available by the magnetic circuit is wasted. Consequently, the efficiency of the horn is relatively low.